


The Best Whatever End (and We’re Not Finished Yet)

by vigilantesinthedark



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But like only a little bit, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, The Princess Bride References, basically “to whatever end” is their “as you wish”, can be seen as romantic can be seen as platonic, insecure Aelin, they’re not together yet but we’re definitely getting there, you don’t need to know the story to understand them though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 06:19:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18463226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vigilantesinthedark/pseuds/vigilantesinthedark
Summary: “It’s not that I’m going to become Maeve completely.” She rubbed at her face. “It’s just that so often, I am manipulative, and deceitful, and downright cruel. And now, that is what’s in charge of you.”Rowan knew that telling Aelin that she could never be cruel would do nothing to convince her. That didn’t stop him from wanting to remind her of every time in Wendlyn- refusing to kill the Ashryvers, tearing into him for putting Luca on the ice, walking singlehandedly into a Valg attack- that she had been anything but.If she would not listen, he would have to show her. “Command me to tell the truth.”“What?”“If you ask for the truth, I can’t lie to you. Command me to tell the truth about how I feel being bloodsworn to you.”~Aelin and Rowan have a heart-to-heart about the blood oath.Slight AU of their post-HoF reunion, where Rowan sneaks onto Aelin’s ship back to Adarlan.





	The Best Whatever End (and We’re Not Finished Yet)

**Author's Note:**

> Aelin was so unsure about Rowan wanting the blood oath with her, that I wanted them to have a conversation about it. 
> 
> The Princess Bride book exists in this universe because why not? (Yes, I know I used a quote from the movie, not from the book, but it fit a little better.)
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Rowan Whitethorn has been called many things. Bastard, was Aelin’s favorite, accompanied by a number of colorful gestures. So much for queenly behavior. And to be fair, he had deserving of it on many occasions. But what he was doing now might get her to cuss him out worse than he’d ever been before. And he had lived long enough to hear a lot. 

As Aelin’s ship departed for Adarlan, he had flown by in his animal form to say one last goodbye. Or so she thought. He headed back to the mainland until she went belowdecks. She did so after only a few moments, which was a pleasant surprise. He was expecting to wait at least an hour. 

He called on the wind to push him back to the boat as fast as possible. Aelin wouldn’t know the difference- she wouldn’t know that he was here at all- but he couldn’t bear the thought of being separate from her any longer. Aelin. His carranam. His salvation from Maeve. His queen, now that he’d sworn a blood oath. His...

He pushed the distracting thoughts aside. He knew Aelin meant something to him, more than anyone had for a long time. The last time he felt anything close to this was with Lyria. Which meant Aelin was... Something. 

Rowan landed on the ship and shifted into his Fae form. He had scouted out the ship last night for Aelin, yes. But he also had an ulterior motive. Buying passage for himself. And shelling out a few extra coins for secrecy from the crew. They were to bring meals to him in his room and interact with him at no other times. He found the assigned room and immediately inspected every crevice. Once he deemed it satisfactory, he began to unpack. 

Most of his knives, he kept either in his bag or on his person. A few were left in plain sight for anyone who would enter. Just as a reminder. He was not to be messed with on this trip. 

He laid down on the bed- uncomfortable at best, infected with who knows what at worst- and started to let himself melt into the mattress. Then he heard it. From the neighboring room, a voice. 

“My name is Celaena Sar-“ A pause. “No. My name is Aelin Ashryver Galathynius and I will not be afraid. My name is Aelin Ashryver Galathynius and I will not be afraid. My name is Aelin Ashryver Galathynius and I will not be afraid.”

Of course he would get the room adjacent to Aelin’s. On the one hand, it would be easier to know she’s safe. But it would be so much harder to keep his presence a secret. Hopefully she was going to stay in her human form. She’d be less likely to sense him. Obviously she would find out eventually, but ideally that wouldn’t be until they reached Adarlan. At least there, she couldn’t use her magic against him. 

~

Aelin hated traveling by sea. Starting with the events in Skull’s Bay, every journey by ship had gotten progressively worse. To and from the Red Desert, angry one way and angrier the next. To Wendlyn, a shell of a person. And now from Wendlyn, having left behind the kindred spirit she’d just found. 

Being surrounded by water affected her in other ways too. Physically, it threw her off balance. She couldn’t fight well, which left her more on edge than usual. The constant threat of drowning didn’t help either. She was powerful enough to turn the entire ocean to steam and walk across the bottom, yet nerves still controlled her. The feeling of the water engulfing her ten years ago had never truly left. 

And then there was the gods awful seasickness. It was downright embarrassing. She was Celaena Sardothien, Adarlan’s Assassin. She was Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. And she was reduced to stumbling down the hallway, trying desperately to reach her room before she vomited. One more door. One more door and she could spend the rest of this two week journey bent over a bucket. 

She reached the door and collapsed over the bucket placed next to it. The food she just choked down burned her throat. She groaned, feeling bile creep its way up. Aelin forced it back down when she realized, she hadn’t left her bucket by the door. No, knowing herself, she put it next to the bed so she wouldn’t have to stumble for it in the middle of the night. 

Which meant that this wasn’t her room. Maybe she would get lucky. Maybe whoever’s room this was was out somewhere on the ship. Her head starting to clear, she could feel someone else in the room, though she hadn’t lifted her head. Maybe whoever was in this room was a kind soul who could forgive an innocent misunderstanding. Looking up, on a set of drawers next to her were some wicked looking knives. Not kindhearted, then, but they definitely had good taste in weapons. 

The one advantage Aelin had was that she appeared weak, having just vomited her guts out. She definitely felt weak, but made to stand up, inching ever closer to the stranger’s knives. 

“Do you barge in to everyone’s room and throw up, or should I feel honored?” She knew that voice. She had just been wondering how long it would be until she would hear it again. Absence of a few hours must make the heart grow fonder, because hearing it again, he was just as infuriating as ever. 

She stood up to face him. Faltering slightly, she clung to the wall. “Oh no, Rowan Whitethorn, you do not get to be upset about me coming into your room on this ship, because you aren’t supposed to have a room on this ship.”

Oh, was he going to get a piece of her mind. That was, if she could ever get off of this wall. She took a step, and before her knees could buckle, he was there. He caught her, and she would die before admitting how much this was like a scene from one of her more embarrassing romance novels. 

“I wonder how Maeve would feel to know that she trembled before a girl who can’t even walk in a straight line on a boat.” 

Aelin was going to kick his ass. If the world ever stopped spinning, she was going to kick his ass. Which she told him in no uncertain terms. “I’m going to kick your ass.”

“I’d love to see you try,” he laughed, then scrunched his nose up. “But first, please, wash out your mouth. That smell is abhorrent.”

“Youre a real charmer,” she said, though blushing, realizing how overpowering it must be to Rowan. Well, now she realized why she hadn’t picked up on his pine and snow scent earlier. Thankfully, he didn’t say anything as he helped her to the washbasin by his bed. 

~ 

The bed wasn’t as awful now that he was lying on it. Rowan had definitely slept on worse. It was barely big enough for one human person, much less a Fae warrior, so how both of them would fit on it was beside him. But we’ve been doing it long enough, why change now? Aelin had asked. 

They would just have to squeeze close and- No. Those were exactly the thoughts he couldn’t be thinking right now. 

Aelin’s face dared him to say anything about her bringing the bucket over to her side of the bed as she climbed in. Then it softened. Looking almost doubting. 

“I know I didn’t use all the fancy phrases in the Old Language like Maeve did, but are we sure I have the blood oath right?” Though she joked, the uncertainty in her eyes was real, and pained him to see. “Because we are zero for one on the commands I’ve given you.”

Of course. Of course it was the blood oath that she was self conscious about. This incredible, selfless woman was still worried about the blood oath. Aelin was worried that she had done something wrong. Never mind that he knew she could do no wrong. 

She who had used the one bartering chip he had given her for him. She who hadn’t traded his submission to Maeve for submission to her, but only for his freedom. She who was surprised that he had wanted to swear the oath to her. 

And now, looking deeper into her eyes, he saw the even more painful thought there. She thought he was ignoring her commands because he didn’t want to be bloodsworn to her anymore. That he had only sworn it to make a statement to Maeve. 

But she had to know that wasn’t true, right? She had to know that as long as he lived, though he had many regrets, she wouldn’t be one of them. 

“Aelin.” 

She had suddenly found the dingy blanket to be the most interesting thing in the world. 

“Fireheart, look at me, please.” She did. “You did the blood oath exactly right. I didn’t sneak onto this boat just to disobey you. I did it for- well, reasons that would be better spoken under different circumstances.” 

She didn’t look convinced. She paused for a while, as if overthinking every word. “In Terrasen, the blood oath was ceremonial. After Brannon, the kings and queens who gave it were mostly human, so their blood oath wasn’t magically binding submission. But this,” she gestured between them, “this is different. This is me having so much control over you that it scares me. Becoming like her scares me.”

“The fact that you worry about that shows that you won’t become her.” 

“It’s not that I’m going to become Maeve completely.” She rubbed at her face. “It’s just that so often, I am manipulative, and deceitful, and downright cruel. And now, that is what’s in charge of you.”

Rowan knew that telling Aelin that she could never be cruel would do nothing to convince her. That didn’t stop him from wanting to remind her of every time in Wendlyn- refusing to kill the Ashryvers, tearing into him for putting Luca on the ice, walking singlehandedly into a Valg attack- that she had been anything but. 

If she would not listen, he would have to show her. “Command me to tell the truth.”

“What?”

“If you ask for the truth, I can’t lie to you. Command me to tell the truth about how I feel being bloodsworn to you.” He tried to make it so there was no room for arguing in his voice. 

And of course, his queen found some. “If I’m using the oath for ridiculous minor things like this, how does that make me better?”

“Aelin.” He spoke her name like a prayer. “I am asking you to give me a command, and you are still hesitant to because you don’t want to force me. That is how you are better.”

She sighed, shifting to fully face him. “Fine. Tell me the truth.”

Deep within him, Rowan felt the command settle. Even her order felt different. With Maeve, it was like a tidal wave coming to drown him. With Aelin, though, it was a gentle wave lapping at the shore. And so he began to speak. 

“I am more than happy to be bloodsworn to you, Fireheart. Part of the reason I asked you when I did was to be petty towards Maeve, yes. But the real reason I wanted to was because you had my loyalty long before you freed me. You, brilliant, caring, infuriating Aelin Galathynius, showed me what life could be, should be.”

~

The words surprised her. Her first impression of Rowan was that he spoke little and cared less. Even as their relationship grew, he had never seemed the type for big, meaningful speeches. The disbelief must have shown in her eyes, because then Rowan did something that surprised her even more. 

He hugged her. 

He pulled her to him and squeezed, like if he held her tight enough, he could push out all of her bad thoughts. As if he could replace how she felt about herself with his view of her. 

Rowan’s lips pressed into her hair. She tried to shift away, realizing how grimy it must be, but he held her firm. 

“I promised you ‘To whatever end’ before I was your bloodsworn. I meant every word of it. This? This is the best end I could have imagined when I said that. And we are so very, very far from the end.”

Maybe she was delirious from not using her magic, or fatigue, or seasickness, but Aelin mumbled a line she had once read into his shoulder. “That day, she was amazed to discover that when he was saying ‘As you wish,’ what he really meant was ‘I love you.’”

He pulled back so he could look at her face. “What?”

“It’s nothing,” she said, keeping her face tucked into him. “Just a line I remember from a book.”

Rowan lifted her chin with a finger, making her face him. All too gently, he asked: “what kind of book?”

Oh, he was clever. Not directly asking about the line she knew he heard, giving her the space to decide where to take this conversation. 

Aelin flopped back onto the hard pillows, throwing an arm dramatically over her face. “It was the story of the most beautiful girl in all the land-“

Rowan snorted, laying back on the bed. 

“Hey!” She poked his shoulder. “That’s how she was described, not my embellishment. Anyways, there was a farm boy who worked for her parents, who the girl treated terribly, to be honest. But every request she made of him, the farm boy would reply ‘As you wish.’ As it turned out, all those years, that was his way of telling her ‘I love you.’”

When Rowan said nothing, it quickly dawned on her what it sounded like she was implying. 

“Not that I’m saying that you- or I- or- When you said- it just reminded me of-“

“I understand what you mean, Princess.” He wasn’t going to throw that awkward stuttering back in her face. Interesting. “What happened to the beautiful girl and the farm boy in the end?”

Aelin curled into the pillow, pulling the blanket over herself. “When we get back to Rifthold, I’ll have to find my copy of the book and read it to you.”

She was drifting off before he could reply. She heard Rowan say something that could have been “As you wish.”


End file.
